‘Some people believe that football is matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude, it is much, much more important than that.’
Bill Shankly

Monday, March 31, 2014

Greece-
slowly rising, very slowly and not all that smoothly. Most of the
league was not strong, scandals were frequent, but improvement was
noticeable. It was still the time of heroes – long lasting
veterans, who more or less elevated Greek football. They were around
since the early 1960s and made astonishing records: 4 players had
over 400 league appearances after this season. Mimis Domazos was with
490 and Mimis Papaioannou – 458. Neither was quitting yet. The
bright side had its counterpart as well – there was mid-season
players strike. The clubs fielded their foreigners – for some
reason excluded from the strike of the Greek players – and
'amateurs'. The definition is foggy – Greek football became
officially professional in 1978-79, if some sources are to be
trusted. But players were paid for long time already and the strike
was never called anything but strike of professional player. The
clubs fielded largely junior team players, luckily for only one
championship round. Records of the season specifically separate the
group of 'amateurs' used by the clubs and let leave it at that.
Corruption was also present – Veria was caught trying to fix
matches and 10 points were deducted from their record as a
punishment. One may wonder what would have happened if one of the big
clubs was found guilty... may be an meaningless question. Apart from
that, there were some good news too – the Yugoslavian striker Dusan
Bajevic joined AEK (Athens).

Bajevic,
28-years old, was one of the best Yugoslavian centre-forwards of the
1970s. National team regular for years, the star of the very strong
Velez (Mostar), prolific scorer, and part of the good Yugoslavian
team at the 1974 World Cup finals. The second real star after the
Argentinian 'La Bruja' Veron to come play in Greece. It was even a
bit strange – a player of his caliber was expected to join
stronger West European league, but a shift was slowly happening –
the Greek clubs started buying more Europeans than anonymous South
Americans: Yugoslavians, Danes, the odd West German. Foreign coaches
were continuously hired too. The top clubs at least were getting
stronger.

The
positive changes did not yet spread to lower echelons of Greek
football.

AS
Rodos won the Southern Second Division, and

AE
Larisa won the Northern Second Division. Happy to be promoted, but
neither club was strong addition to First league.

The
newcomers were replacing the unlucky outsiders of First Division:

Veria
was last with 18 points – their efforts of fixing matches were
transparent enough: to escape relegation. But even if 10 points were
not deducted from their record, Veria was still to be relegated.

AO
Pierikos (Katerini) finished 17th
with 26 points. A little unlucky, for there was large group of clubs
concerned only with survival – up to the 9th
placed. The luckiest ended with 30 points. However, the relegated
were not to be missed.

Only
one club of the bulk was obviously improving: OFI Crete.

Only
two years earlier the islanders were playing in second division.
Historically, OFI were nobodies – they had short first division
spell in the 1960s and that was all. Now they had ambition, perhaps
money, and may be good organization. Fans turning historians boast
that OFI was the club to be... young players from all Greece were
eager to join the club. Fancy imagination – no future stars of
Greek football are founded in their 1977-78 roster. Even their two
Yugoslavians are anonymous – Voukman and Ivanta (the name is
clearly changed, may be to make it easier for Greek pronouncing).
The only relatively known name is Kostas Liolios, acquired from
Olympiakos for this season. But the team was going up – they
finished 8th,
becoming one of the stable clubs.

The
bulk of the league was topped by PAS Giannina at 5th
place.

They
were running strong thanks to their large group of South Americans
and the great mystery around them: players with frequently changing
names, one year with their original ones, the next with Greek names,
called in the same time 'Argentine-Italians', something not giving
them even Greek roots, but never mind. They were for his club and
even more. Good, but not good enough to challenge the big clubs.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Saturday, March 22, 2014

If
the championship was surprizing, the Cup tournament was sensational.
In the ¼ finals lowly second division club, Chepinetz (Velingrad)
faced Levski-Spartak. Nobody even cared for this fixture – at their
worst, Levski were to win easily. Chepinetz were just nobodies...
they were simply lucky to play against Levski and photograph
themselves with the stars for posterity. The match ended in 1-1 tie
and went into penalty shoot-out. Which Chepinetz won 4:2. It was
unbelievable, but true. Then the draw for the semi-finals: Chepinetz
vs CSKA. Miracles happen rarely and are never repeated... the match
was in Sofia on top of everything. No chance for Chepinetz
whatsoever. Yet, this match also ended 1-1 and went to shoot-out.
Miracles are not repeated, but CSKA extracted victory by only 4:3! A
tiny club, insignificant even by second division measures eliminated
Levski-spartak and almost eliminated CSKA. Fantastic. But that was
the end of Cinderella story... CSKA went to the final. There they
were meeting Marek (Stanke Dimitrov), who eliminated Lokomotiv
(Sofia) in the quarter-finals 2-1, and then had it a bit easier at
the semi-finals against the worst first division team, Akademik
(Svishtov). Marek won 2-0, but considering their weak season... there
was no doubt who the Cup winner will be. CSKA did not have a great
year, but they were always ambitious, still had strong chances for a
double, and simply had classier squad. And just in case, non-CSKA
fans were sure that Marek will be ordered not to put any resistance.
It was a final not worth watching at all – the victory of CSKA was
sure, the match was to be a mere formality, if not outrageous farce.

The
farce ended after half an hour – the right full back of Marek
Lyuben Sevdin scored. So far, Marek was fighting well and did not
give signs of giving up, but still pessimism dominated: may be
putting a resistance in the first half, so the whole affair to be
covered. If the second half they will give up and the journalists
will write that the team was not match for great CSKA, they got
tired, and... what could you expect? The best wins. Marek still have
to work a lot to improve their football. Such wisdom vanished when
the underdog was suddenly leading. And they bravely fought to the
end, preserving the result and winning their first trophy ever. Now,
this was sensational. It was minimal victory – only 1-0 – but
what a victory!

CSKA
finishing empty-handed the season. They were expected to win a double
– this they did in a way: twice second-best. 18 national team
players (of different years, but still...) losing to mere tiny
provincials. May be CSKA got consolation from the fact that in the
fall of 1977 Bayern lost a UEFA match to Marek? The mighty Germans
lost 0-2 – CSKA did better. May be not... second place equals
disaster and shame for a club counting only trophies won.

It
was precisely the same squad under the same coach which surprised
everybody the previous season by finishing third right after winning
promotion. Yes, they played very well, but given the limitations of
the squad and the vanishing of the surprise element, they were not
expected to repeat their great year, let alone win a trophy. And
predictions were so far right: Marek still played well, but now
everybody knew them and they were at the bottom of the table, trying
to avoid relegation. Reaching the Cup final was a bit surprising, but
perhaps Lokomotiv (Sofia) chose to concentrate on the fight for the
championship and did not care for the cup. Then Marek had been lucky,
drawing a weak opponent. Luck is luck, but they won the final against
CSKA. They really proved themselves. Yet, it was hard to believe,
given their limited squad. Marek practically used only 14 players the
previous season and it was absolutely certain that there was nobody
behind the regulars. The team badly needed additions... yet, they did
not recruit anybody in summer of 1977 and lost their sweeper Nikolay
Krastev. Technically, he was still in the squad, but after his leg
was broken in the previous season it was clear he was not going to
play again. Now they had not more, but fewer good players – the
photo of the Cup winning squad perfectly shows the very extend of
Marek: the whole third row are reserves, with very few appearances.
The back-up goalie Brankov still had to debut in official match. The
field players probably had less than 15 appearances in two years each
, and hardly anybody played a full match yet: the only play they got
was a few minutes of occasional replacement of some regular. The
reserves were clearly local boys included because there was nobody
else. None of them not only was never a known player, but nobody
became a starter for Marek. Marek had bigger squad on paper, but the
others were not even good enough for reserves. There is one player
missing, the midfielder Assen Tomov – his absence only amplifies
the team's limitations: 12 players total to depend on. Tomov was
practically the regular replacement, coming every match in the second
half. Without him... only 11 left. Imagine one of them injured?
Imagine two out of form? And something already a reality, not
imagination: already three players were included in the national
team. A few more were soon to be called – the regulars were
suddenly taxed with too many important games: the championship, the
Cup, the European torunaments, the national team matches. It was
already a miracle they survived so far. But a heroic team too –
despite the objective difficulties, they bested their best year. They
won the first trophy for Marek! And, so far, their last... this team
will stay heroic and legendary not just for the club and its fans.
They truly deserved their success.

It
was the season of small clubs and minimal teams – they won
everything against expectations and logic. Strange similarity –
both Lokomotiv and Marek depended on tiny groups of players, almost
all of them home-grown. Their modest, if not entirely unknown
coaches, were also closely related to the clubs – more local boys
becoming famous out of the blue. An unique season, but also sad...
the way they were, both winners were unlikely to stay on top. The
most they were to hope for was the big teams to stay away of their
players – so far, Levski and CSKA were disinterested... the winners
were somewhat not the type of players needed by the big clubs. Levski
did not even try to get back its former juniors, the Petrov twins.
Even when they were called to the national team and even when Levski
badly precisely centre-forward – the very position the twins
played. At the end, only two players were taken by the mighty: CSKA
took Zdravkov from Lokomotiv and two years later Levski took Lyuben
Kolev from Marek. Lucky winners... they could have been robbed
entirely. How pleasant it was to see modest clubs win everything, and
such minimalistic teams on top of it. Pleasant and amazing, and not
to be repeated...

Just
because of the uniqueness of the seasonal winners, one more photo of
Marek – made right after the Cup final ended and they received the
Cup. Because of colour clash, Marek had to play with their second
kit. White jerseys, blue shorts, red socks. Or,well... it was not to
be their day: CSKA playing in their second kit against some
provincial dwarfs? But it is even sweeter to win over heavily
favoured opposition, in their home town, and after it is taken for
granted that if anybody had to change kits, it is the small,
insignificant provincial guys. In a way, Marek's victory was even a
kind of symbolic revenge for the harsh and unfair suspension of Kiril
Milanov – his troubles started when he was young and playing for
Marek and related to CSKA and their powerful supporter in the top of
the Communist Party and state leadership.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The
Southern B Group was judged weaker than the Northern one – few
former First Division members played there and all of them were in
decline for years, not a factor at all. Thus, Minyor (Pernik), just
relegated from the top league, was seen as sure winner. The rest of
the league appeared very similar – the better teams had between one
and three known former first division players, generally aging ones –
enough for 'solid' performance, but not for aiming at promotion.
Minyor was struggling in the fall, when finished 4th
– 4 points behind the leader – but there was no fear: better than
the rest, they were surely to end on top.

No
matter what they did, Minyor were to be champions: sitting from left:
G. Ganev, I. Todorov, B. Evtimov, G. Yordanov, V. Bankov.

Minyor
was a mirror image of the better clubs of the Northern B group: a
core of solid players carried it on so far since 1970. They were
dangerously aging – Evlogy Banchev (31), Georgy Yordanov (30),
Slavy Malinov (31) – or already reached their peak – Angel
Slavov. The team leaders were pretty much alone, though – the other
experienced players were rejected by their former clubs – Ganev,
Evtimov, Naydenov. They were no leaders, but run of the mill players.
And no great talent completed the squad – Boyanov was perhaps the
best of the rest, but it was already clear he was not to be a star.
Experienced, but rather ordinary team, depending on few old stars.
The only exception was a boy not on the photo: the 17-years old
winger Mario Valkov. He debuted with a bang and was the only one
seemingly capable of replacing the old leaders. But... he was not to
last in Pernik. Minyor was clearly unable to even start meaningful
rebuilding, but the squad was experienced enough and obviously better
than the rest of the league. On paper – yes. In reality Minyor was
unable to win – they did not improve much in the spring, adding 24
points to the 22 earned in the fall. With that Minyor finished
second. They were not contenders even for a second – the winners
left them 9 points behind. So much for surety of predictions.

The
winners were one of those clubs never expected to win – veterans of
Second Division football, a staple really there, normally found in
the upper half of the table. A typical second league club – just
happy to play there and never aiming higher. The club did not recruit
for more than second league stability, so it was a typical squad –
a bunch of vastly experienced club veterans, some youngsters with
exactly second-league potential, and two or three former first
division players with fading names. The very making of the squad did
not suggest any ambition old or new. But this very squad finished
first in the fall with 26 points. It still did not look not
serious... rather, in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed was king.
Behind were one similar club – Dimitrovgrad – and one surprise –
Trakia (Novy Krichim) was third, a club more often playing Third
Division football. The top three clubs were expected to drop down in
the spring and Minyor to take the first place. But... only Trakia, a
tiny club even by second division measures, dropped. The league was
quite weak and no big changes happened in the spring: Dimitrovgrad
finished third. May be the fall leaders were just caught by the
inability of others to gather points, may be they developed some
appetite for success – at the end, the fall leaders finished 9
points ahead of everybody: 22 wins, 11 ties, and 5 losses. 55 points,
the best attack – 67 goals, the best defense – 27 allowed, most
wins in the league and especially impressive number of losses – the
next best were Minyor, losing 10 games – twice as many! The
champions were overwhelming on paper. The name is Haskovo, a club
named after their home city in South-Eastern Bulgaria.

This
was the biggest success of the club founded in 1957 under the name
'Dimitar Kanev' so far – champions of Southern Second Division and
confidently so. Not exactly a Cinderella story, but... the squad was
hardly good for top league football. Relatively young team, depending
mostly on typical second division players and following the pattern
of most second-leaguers: two or three well known names, getting old.
The left winger Latinov was the local star and one of the best
strikers in the second division for years, already 30 years old.
Nikola Kordov was the key figure in defense – at 32, his best years
were gone. He was part of the strong Beroe (Stara Zagora) team circa
1967-1973 and was even included in the national team a few times, but
injuries and age moved him to Haskovo. Yordan Kichekov was similar –
although younger, 27 years old, his best years were already behind
him. Five years back he was considered one of the most promising
young players in the first division. Then he played for Trakia
(Plovdiv), but the promise was not fulfilled – he lost his starting
place, moved to Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) and eventually moved again –
and down – to Haskovo. The trio shined in Haskovo and made a
difference, but it was in the second division. For top flight new
players were urgently needed, if Haskovo wanted to survive. As they
were, they were not going to last, therefore, the best was just to
enjoy their victory and promotion.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Monday, March 3, 2014

The
cup was won by Tatabanya. But this was not the Hungarian Cup – it
was the winter cup provided by the sports magazine Kepes Sport. A
novelty of that time – winter indoor tournaments were popular
around Europe, largely to provide some semi-competitive football
during the pause between fall and spring halves of the season, partly
to help preparations for the spring.

Here
are the winners – another feature of such tournaments was that
otherwise weak clubs often performed well. No wonder: reserves and
new players were tried and the rules varied. It was not futsal at
all. With time these tournaments faded away and practically
disappeared, so this note is mostly for the sake of history.

As
for the real Cup, Ferencvaros and Pecsi MSC reached the final. For
the 'peoples club' it was a chance to salvage the disastrous season.
For Pecsi MSC too... they were in decline for some time, sinking to
the lower half of the table. Once upon a time the club from Pecs was
stronger, but not in the 1970s – so a rare opportunity to win a
trophy, to restore pride. In the championship Pecsi MSC was worse
than Ferencvaros – they finished 13th
– and their squad was way weaker, but such things hardly matter at
finals. Stakes were high – the 'peoples club' had to come back
somewhat in a season dominated by the arch-enemies, the Army and the
Police. In the same time the 'provincials' really wanted the noses of
the hated big boys from the capital, robbing the provinces all the
time. Intriguing rivalries. Perhaps they were not just on paper,
perhaps the opponents were not all tha strong, but the final ended in
a tie. In the overtime Ferencvaros prevailed 4-2.

One
more Cup for Ferencvaros and season saved. Or may be not? The winners
look not too happy...

The
finalists did their best... and lost. Unfortunately, Pecs had no real
argument – apart from their goalkeeper Katzirz they had no classy
players. Ferencvaros had a very weak year, but still it was a squad
full of former and current national team players.

This
squad, led by Tibor Nyilasi, was good for a double. So the names
suggest... yet, it ended only with the Cup, and the trophy was won
with difficulties. It was better squad than Honved's and probably at
par with Ujpesti Dosza's, but... lucky just to salvage this season.
For some reason Ferencvaros never really soared in the 1970s. May be
they were psychologically weak. May be there was always some missing
key ingredient. At least they won the Cup – for the 14th
time! And a real Cup, not like Tatabanya's.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

About Me

I am Vesselin Vesselinov, born in Bulgaria and living in Canada. Football is my hobby since childhood – not the most important part of my life, but lifelong addiction nevertheless. Playing, watching, talking and collecting football. Now I am sharing my addiction with you. Hope you enjoy it.